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UNITED STATES PATENT Ormea..

GEORGE' M. HOPKINS, OF ALBION, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T() HIMSELF AND W. R.SMITH, OF SAME PLAGE.

APPARATUS FOR TURNING THE LEAVES OF MUSlC.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 51,999, dated January9, 1866.

To all whom it may concern of Albion, in the county of Orleans and Stateof'New York, haveinvented a new and useful mprovement in Apparatus forTurning Music; and l do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilledin the art to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which-Figure l represents an elevation ot' an apparatus made according to myinvention. Fig. 2 represents the same turned partly over, so as to showpart of it in top view, the box to which the apparatus is attached beingpartly broken away to show the spring K and other parts which areconcealed therein. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line wot' Fig, 2.Fig. 4 is a detailed View of part of one of the arms E and of one ofthefingers, D. i

The object of this invention is to turn leaves of music, whether ofsheets or bound in bookform, by mechanical means in order to save aplayer the embarrassment ol' losing time and dropping` the music inturning the leaves by hand, and to save wear and tear of the music. 1tis to be attached to the note-board ot' an organ or piano, or othermusical instrument with keys, or to a music-stand.

It consists of a series of arms with fingers, which are operated bymeans of springs that carry them from one side o f the apparatus to theother side, one at a time, the leaves of music being engaged by thefingers and therefore carried over with them.

A designates the base or lower part of the noteboard of a musicalinstrument, like a piano, or of the note-board of a music-stand. Acavity is made in the said base to receive a series of springs, N, whoseleft-hand ends are connected with and operate the armsE through iiexiblewires or cords K, and their right-hand ends are held in a movable clamp,l?, which is placed upon a pin, Q, so as to be capable of being moved toand fro thereon. The pin Q has a screw-thread cut on it, and a nutplaced thereon serves to hold the clamp P in the desired position on thepi-n. The cavity in the base A of the note-board is closed in front by ametallic plate, Y, fromwhose inner face projects a fulcrum-plate, O,over whose edge lie the springs N. When the tension of these springs isto be diminished the clamp P is moved toward the end of the pin Q. Whentheir tension is to be increased it is moved toward plate Y.

G is the axis, upon which are mounted, side by side, circular plates Z,which are each connected with an arm, E. These arms E are twisted afterthey leave the plates Z so as to be parallel with the back plate, Y, towhich the bearings ofthe axis Gr are attached. The wires or cords K arecarried partly around the circular plates Z, and are severally connectedto them at the projections, (marked M,) not far from the arms E.

The letter Y designates the free ends ot' the arms E. 'l'hese free endsreach past a springlatch, L, which projects from the back plate, Y, at aright angle, and which has sufficieutlengt h to receive and retain allthe arms E, which, in this example, are live in number. Below the latchL is a fixed plate, U, which extends from the plate Y in a directionparallel with said latch, and at a suflicient distance therefrom toallow the ends V of the arms E to enter between the latch and itself.The arms E are thus provided with a support and a guide, which willcause them to be properly presented to the latch, so as to be engaged byit, and which will also keep them from striking against the lifter orescapement C while the latter is at rest. Each arm E has a finger, D,working severally on a pivot in pockets tformed on the upper edges ofsaid arms. An eccentric or cam, 7, is made on the pivoted end of eachinger, beneath which is placed the free end of a lat spring, s, whoseofce is to keep its finger D erect, as shown in Figs. 4 and l. Then thengers are to be put out of the way, as when music is to be changed, thefingers D are pressed down upon their springs s and pushed beneath thepin F, as indicated in red outline in Fig. l. The lifter or escapement Ois pivoted at E, and is raised by pressure made 011 the finger-piece B.rEhe lifter is kept below the Lipper edge of guide U by means of aspring, C. The tendency ofthe arms E is always against the hook ofthelatch L, so that when one armis released from the latch the next arm isbrought, by its spring N, against it. Vhen the lifter or escapement C israised it moves upward between the outermost arm, E, and the next arm,and lifts the latch, so as to release the outermost arm, which is atonce carried around on its axis to the opposite side of said axis G, itsfinger D carrying before it the leaf of music behind which it is placed.The lifter or escapement also serves to retain those arms which arebelow it, so that none of the arms are allowed to escape except that onewhich is without the lifter at the time the latch is raised.

H is a supplementary arm, which, like the arms E, sets forth from acircular plate Z, that revolves on the axis Gr, -but is not engaged bythe latch L. It has a finger, J, pivoted to it near its end, so that thefinger can be raised to stand at a right angle or at any other anglewith the arm, and can be brought down parallel therewith when music isto be changed. The end of the arm H is formed to the shape of anger-piece, I, for convenience of handling. This arm, moreover, is helddown by one of the springs N, upon or against the face of the base A,and it can be at any time turned toward the right when it is desired,for any purpose, to bring it to that side. The office of the arm H is tobring all the pages of the music which have been turned by the arms Eback again toward the right-hand side, as when there is a da capo, inwhich operation the leaves engaged by the ngers D are retained on theright-hand side, because the arms E will be caught by the latch L, whilethe rst page of the music can be turned back toward the left by turningthe arm H back toward that side, such rst page being held by itsupturned finger J.

This apparatus can be used also for turning leaves or pages of books andmanuscripts.

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In apparatusfor turning leaves of music, keeping the fingers which engage the leavesin an erect position by means of springs,which act against eccentrics orcams formed on the fingers at the places where they are pivoted to theswinging arms E, substantially as above described.

2. The detaining-rod F, in combination with the ngers D, substantiallyas shown and described.

3. The supplementary arm H, with its nger-piece I and finger J, by meansof which the whole series of arms E can be turned back at once, and thefirst page or leaf of music can be re-opened by means of finger J,substantially as shown and described.

4. The manner, substantially as above shown and described, of applyingthe springs N to the arms E and the arm H, in combination with the meansof adjusting said springs through the agency of rod or pin Q, clamp P,and fulcrum-plate O, as above set forth.

5. The lifter or escapement C, applied and operated as shown.`incombination with the latch L, substantially as above described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 8th day ofSeptember, 1865.

GEO. M. HOPKINS.

Witnesses z M. M. LIVINGsToN, G. L. ToPLIFF.

